


Cruore

by CarmenImbrium



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, I promise it gets better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-11 22:43:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7910434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarmenImbrium/pseuds/CarmenImbrium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It rained on the first night he was without her. [contains spoilers for chapter 499]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cruore

**Author's Note:**

> Alternatively titled “I’ve Been Crying All Day Because Of This Chapter And This Is How I Deal With It”.

It rained on the first night he was without her.

 

* * *

 

Gray sat on the ground and stared at the sky through the rubble of the village, trying desperately to let out the sorrow he felt, but he couldn’t cry. Maybe it was her blood running through his body, carrying her will for him to live happily, or maybe it was the shock, but no matter how much he screamed and punched the ground, tears refused to fall from his eyes. He could feel the traces of her in his veins, but he wanted her in his arms.

_Why? Why did she have to save me? Why couldn’t she let me save her?_ He slammed his fist down, splattering mud on his legs. _What did I do to deserve her? And to deserve this?_ Visions flashed behind his eyes of her, bloodied and broken but smiling so warmly at him, and a strangled cry tore from his throat.

“Gray?” A familiar voice rang through the night. “Is that you?”

He looked up as three shadows peeked out from around the corner. “Erza?”

The redhead rushed over and knelt down at his side, followed closely by Wendy and Carla. “Are you alright? What happened?”

“Juvia… she… she’s…”

“What happened, Gray? Where’s Juvia?” Erza put her hands on his shoulders and shook him gently until he met her eyes. It didn’t take long for her to read the hopelessness on his face. “...Where is she now?”

Gray turned his head to look behind him. On a couch in the corner of the half-destroyed house lay Juvia’s body, covered in a torn jacket and a thin coating of ice. From across the room, it looked as though she could have been sleeping. He had curled her on her side and frozen her body in a last-ditch effort to save at least some part of her, but he couldn’t bear to leave her lying in the middle of the battlefield for the enemy to find.

Wendy made her way over to the couch and pulled back the jacket to reveal the gaping wound in Juvia’s stomach. She gasped, looking back at Gray’s matching gash. “How did this happen?”

“Invel, he…” Gray took a deep breath to steady himself. “He wanted us to kill each other. But I couldn’t… I couldn’t hurt her, I couldn’t, I tried to end it myself, but so did she, and she… she saved me. She saved me, but I couldn’t save her. I failed…”

Erza rubbed a hand along his back. “Gray, you don’t need to blame yourself. You know how selfless Juvia is, and how much she loves you. I have no doubt you did everything you could for her.”

“I should‘ve done more. I should’ve been stronger.” He balled his fists against his knees and turned away from Erza. “And Invel got away, I couldn’t even avenge her.”

“Wait!” Wendy called from across the room. “There’s something…”

Carla patted Gray’s shoulder and flew over to the dragonslayer. “What is it, child?”

“I think I feel something!” She pressed both hands against the ice on Juvia’s chest and twisted her mouth in concentration for a moment before gasping in delight. “Yeah! It’s really slow and faint, but I’m pretty sure her heart’s still beating! I’m not sure if there’s much I can do right now, but we might still be able to help her!”

Gray’s eyes widened and something like hope began to bloom in his chest. _She’s… alive?_ He stood up and stumbled his way over to Wendy, kneeling down next to her at Juvia’s side.

“Could you melt a little of the ice here? I might be able to close up the wound a little,” Wendy grabbed his hand and placed it on Juvia’s stomach, right above her injury. “Just there, though; I don’t know if it would be a good idea to melt all of it, just in case.”

He nodded slowly, still in a new state of shock, and dissolved a small area of ice, exposing the hole in her side. Wendy went to work immediately, magic flowing through her fingertips and attempting to close the wound. Blood spilled out onto the floor, and the healer sighed.

“She’s losing blood really fast, I don’t know if I can heal her in time,” she whispered, letting Carla wipe the sweat from her forehead. “I’m sorry.”

Gray gasped. “Her blood… she used transfusion magic to save me, she gave me her blood! Is there a way you can give her my blood?” He pulled back the makeshift bandage around his abdomen and showed her his own barely-healed wound.

“That might work, but we probably shouldn’t try to do it all at once. I don’t want you passing out from blood loss or anything.”

“And you know you need to rest,” Carla interjected, crossing her arms at Wendy. “If you wear yourself out too quickly, you won’t be able to do much of anything.”

Wendy sighed again and looked down at Carla. “You’re right. Gray, could you freeze her again for now?”

Over the next twenty hours, Wendy closed Juvia’s wound little by little, each time replacing the blood lost with some of Gray’s. Erza guarded the building and Carla headed off to the guild to inform them of the situation. Gray spent most of his downtime lost in thought, imagining her opening her eyes and fantasizing about all the ways he could make Invel suffer. While Wendy slept, he would rest his hand in Juvia’s frozen one, squeezing it lightly and hoping desperately that soon she would be able to squeeze back.

 

* * *

 

“There!” Wendy leaned back and clapped her hands triumphantly, beaming at Gray and Erza. Where there had been a hole in Juvia’s side just a day ago, there was now only a fresh scar.

Erza ruffled Wendy’s hair and smiled back at her. “Wonderful job, Wendy! Do you know how long until she wakes up?”

“It might take a while, she was pretty far gone. She should be out of the woods, though! Gray, would you like to do the honours?”

Gray nodded and sighed, the dam holding back his hope breaking and flooding him with relief. He placed both his hands on Juvia’s arm, and ice covering her slowly melted away. Everything was still and silent for a few moments, the three wizards waiting and watching, until they saw the soft, shallow, and unmistakable rise and fall of a tiny breath. He was vaguely aware of Wendy and Erza screaming with joy beside him, but his entire world had narrowed to her face, eyes closed and lips slightly parted, no longer in death, but merely in sleep. His hand reached out to gently brush against her pinkish cheek and she sighed quietly, and that was enough for him. Hot tears finally spilled down his cheeks, dripping onto the couch and the floor. “Juvia…”

“We should let her rest for a while, she’ll need to get her strength back,” Erza said. “Wendy, why don’t we get some air? Gray, try not to wake her yet.”

He nodded, still focused on the blue-haired girl asleep before him and more than content just to know she would be alright.

 

* * *

 

Gray wasn’t sure when he fell asleep. He was disoriented when he woke to mostly darkness, the only light in the building coming from the full moon overhead. For a moment, he was sure he was still dreaming when he looked up, because he was met with a pair of bright blue eyes, exhausted and yet full of life, smiling back at him.

“Gray-sama…” she whispered, her voice hoarse and strained.

He stared at her, taking in everything. Her eyes, her smile, her skin glowing in the moonlight, and her hand resting in his. She squeezed his hand so softly he barely felt it, but he returned the gesture, wiping the tear streaks from his face and silently thanking every higher power there was for the fact that she was there beside him, warm and breathing and _alive._

She reached out slowly to brush his bangs out of his eyes, and her other hand guided his to the underside of her breast so he could feel the beating of her heart and the rise and fall of her breath in her chest.

As he felt the soft, steady pulses beneath his palm, another tear rolled down his cheek and he took a shaky breath. “You’re here. You’re _back._ ”

“Juvia never left,” she smiled up at him, her eyes filled with happy tears. “And Juvia never will.”

Gray let out a half-sob at her words and surged forward to capture her lips in a desperate kiss. He felt her squeak and tense up for a moment before sighing against his mouth and melting against him. His fingers lightly squeezed her side as he deepened the kiss and she rubbed her thumb against the back of his hand. The tears fell freely down his face as he kissed her, the warmth in his heart spreading further through his body with each second.

Eventually, however, the burning in Juvia’s lungs got the better of her and she broke the kiss with a deep breath, propping herself up on her elbow. She blinked twice, looked into Gray’s eyes, and flushed bright red with realisation. “U-um…”

He laughed for the first time in what felt like an eternity. “Juvia,” he whispered, moving both of his hands to the sides of her face, “that was my answer.”

“Wh-what?” Her blush deepened as she stared into his eyes. There was no hint of hesitation or obligation in them, only a warmth she had dreamt of since the day he had taken her rain away.

“I’m so sorry, Juvia. I wasn’t strong enough to protect you. I couldn’t save you,” he sighed, rubbing his thumbs lightly across her cheeks.

She closed her eyes and leaned into one of his hands. “Oh, Gray-sama, you’ve saved Juvia every day since she met you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Juvia was alone until you made the rain stop. No home, no family, no love. Juvia found all those things in Fairy Tail, and in you. You gave Juvia all of her reasons to live, Gray-sama.”

A sob caught in his throat as he listened to her. Unable to speak, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms gently around her, basking in her warmth. She returned the embrace, burying her nose against his neck and whispering sweetly to him. “It’s okay now, Juvia is okay, Juvia is here…”

The two clung to each other for what felt like hours until Juvia yawned and cuddled closed to him. Gray ran a hand through her hair and kissed her temple. “You should get some more sleep. You need it.”

“Mm, so do you.” She let go of him to scoot closer to the back of the couch and patted the now-empty space in front of her. “You look like you’ve barely slept in weeks, Gray-sama.”

He crawled up onto the couch, letting her reattach herself to his side and wrapping an arm around her. Her eyes closed and within moments her breathing slowed and evened out, and he watched her with a small smile.

_“I love you, Juvia.”_


End file.
